Hines Column: What the loss to Iowa revealed about Iowa State

Travis HinesSports Editorthines@amestrib.com

Saturday

Dec 8, 2018 at 6:17 PM

Cyclones play Southern on Sunday

The feel-good story for the Iowa State men’s basketball team unraveled pretty quickly Thursday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena as rival Iowa spent most of the game dismantling the Cyclones’ defense and stymying its offense.

That 7-1 start with a cast of lesser-knowns was nice, but reality swooped in this week to remind the Cyclones and anyone else it’s going to take plenty more than a nice narrative to get back into the NCAA tournament.

It was a single loss, on the road and without two of their top players, but there was plenty to be learned about ISU from its Cy-Hawk loss.

1. Being a plucky underdog isn’t enough

No doubt, it was impressive what the Cyclones did with a rotation of eight players, half of whom are freshmen, through the month of November. ISU played well and it played with purpose. The Cyclones comported themselves well, and they took care of business with Lindell Wigginton, Cameron Lard, Solomon Young and Zoran Talley on the bench. They should be commended for all they accomplished. It was no small or easy feat.

It’s also clear that’s not going to be good enough once Big 12 play starts.

It’s incredibly difficult to rely solely on chemistry, toughness, grit and want-to and win at the high-major level. Kansas State got credit for fitting that profile last year, and they had an All-American in Dean Wade and a potential NBA draft pick in Barry Brown.

Talent is a necessity.

2. Wigginton and Lard need to get right, right away

Luckily for the Cyclones, they’ve got an infusion of talent available to them.

Let’s start with Wigginton.

Expected to be back in the next week or two, the sophomore guard provides so much of what is missing for the Cyclones (more on that later). His 40 percent 3-point shooting and ability to go get buckets is a Godsend for the Cyclones.

I was concerned that he and Talen Horton-Tucker might have difficulty playing together since both are so ball dominant, but given Horton-Tucker’s rookie inconsistencies, I think it could be an ideal pairing if Horton-Tucker can embrace a secondary scoring role. I’d really be interested in seeing if coach Steve Prohm might employ them in some pick-and-roll actions together.

Lard is a little bit trickier of a situation.

He’s still clearly not in Prohm’s good graces. Freshman George Conditt played over him in stretches against the Hawkeyes. Reading body language is largely a fool’s errand, but it’s hard not to look and Lard and be concerned at times about his intensity and effort levels.

But even as well as Michael Jacobson has played, Lard just gives the Cyclones another dimension when he’s engaged.

The Cyclones don’t have anyone else who is 6-foot-9 throwing behind-the-back bounce passes in transition or capable of running the floor and finishing with an athletic layup on a fast break like Lard did against the Hawkeyes.

Here’s where I see the conundrum for Prohm.

He’s not going to want to play Lard big minutes until Lard proves he’s worthy of them, and Lard is the type of player who doesn’t play well and engaged unless he’s getting big minutes and heavily involved.

If this becomes the tug-of-war between those two, the Cyclones lose.

ISU can probably survive just fine if Lard isn’t the player so many expect him to be, but they can’t hit their ceiling like that.

3. Iowa exploited all their flaws all at once

The Cyclones played exceedingly well throughout November, but it was clear where the holes were. All the problems showed up together against the Hawkeyes.

ISU can’t shoot 3s, it doesn’t have a natural small-ball four, the 3-point defense is alarming and Nick Weiler-Babb has been problematically inconsistent.

Wigginton should help the 3-point shooting, but that one guy does not a sharpshooting team make. The Cyclones are shooting a ghastly 33.1 percent on spot-up jump shots, per Synergy Sports Technology. It’s going to remain a problem all season long. For a team that wants to play small, it’s a major concern.

Iowa also exposed ISU’s issue defensively when going small. They tried all sorts of different looks on Tyler Cook, but the Iowa forward roasted them for 26 points and 11 rebounds. Horton-Tucker might become a rugged defender at some point in his career, but he’s not there just a week after his 18th birthday. Weiler-Babb, Marial Shayok and Tyrese Haliburton aren’t ideal candidates, either. If teams go big with a talented and physical four-man, it’s going to be trouble for the Cyclones if they stay small.

The 3-point defense, yeah it’s an issue. Teams are shooting 32.1 percent from distance against the Cyclones, which isn’t all that bad. They are, however, attempting an eye-popping 45.6 percent of their overall shots from 3-point range. That’s a recipe for disaster.

Three-point defense is largely random in the sense there’s data to suggest that teams can’t really influence the shooting percentage of their opponent’s 3s. The best 3-point defense is to simply not allow teams to shoot 3s. The Cyclones rank 324th nationally in that category. Not great.

Finally, the Cyclones need more consistency from their fifth-year senior point guard.

Weiler-Babb’s production has been all over the board. He’s been at his statsheet-stuffing best - 13 points, 13 rebounds and five assists vs. Texas Southern - and conspicuously absent - eight points, two rebounds and three assists vs. Iowa in 40 minutes. If he’s not putting up numbers across the board, ISU isn’t going to be at its best. His value comes in how he can effect the game as a 6-foot-5 point guard who produces in a variety of ways.

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There’s not a lot of time for the Cyclones to get things squared away. They’ve got a throwaway game Sunday against Southern (KenPom rank: 337), a sneaky interesting game against Drake (173) and then a final tuneup against Eastern Illinois (320) before Big 12 play begins.

The Cyclones are hoping to have Young and Wigginton available next weekend against the Bulldogs, but Prohm hinted that even if they’re in uniform, minutes might be limited. That means precious little time to acclimate them before the stakes ramp up in a major way.

Thursday’s loss to the Hawkeyes was one game, the first true road test for this group and all of its freshmen. There remains a lot to like about the Cyclones, but the weaknesses are apparent.

How Prohm and Co. go about addressing them - both immediately and over the next months - is going to go a long way in determining how this season plays out.

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